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Chop's project original mk2


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Well, I've come full circle and found myself with a freshly bought starlet, and this time ive decided to do a 'build' thread for it. i bought this little gem for its low milage and mad colour, and having most of my dead advance left over, have parts galore for a little restoration job!

Driving this home was a huge giggle, being a filthy automatic meant i had 100 odd miles to work out why people opt for these shithouse slushboxes at all, but im sorry to say im still at a loss, the best i could make of it is that it seems to be a 4 speed manual with really tall gears and the gearstick replaced by a committe of fun hating gremlins. what seems to be happening is that when you put your foot down in all the 'sport' modes, the the gremlins have a 15 second arguement as to which gear to use, then decided to just try and give you all of them at once and not a lot happens barring your fuel consumption going down into single digits lol. Still, having driven a dead stock manual starlet before i know the potential it has though, so i have a plan for the gremlin box.

A couple of quick pics of as it was the day after i bought it, feral sticker wrapping, mini quasar like unbelievably bright custom fogs, silly bonnet and bumper mods and alloys intact.

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And after some base level cleanup, sticker and iffy numberplate location removal:

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looking better already though the last pic had me confused when i took it. There was a right old banging noise going on under the car on the way back, shitting me right up as to what it could be. a next day inspection turned up this little problem:

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Snapped right off due to some snazzy pigeonshit welding, though i dont really care too much as i want a oem spec quiet twin exit backbox at some point, and amazingly everything but the non existent backbox is actually stock!

Cant wait to get started on this little cracker as its got so much potential, it has at most 55k miles on it in a cool looking 6m6 metallic green, a rare colour. I have a mk1 and a mk3 bumper to choose from, a glowbadge, and a horde of other goodies for it. I also have a trd mechanical lsd equipped 5 speed manual gt box and all the trimmings to match so i can loose the filthy auto that surely was the only thing stopping people from buying it for so long.

I can go two ways with it at this point, so ive decided to put it to vote what i should do . I can fit the mk3 bumper from my old gt, and have a completely mk2 car, or fit my glowbadge and restore the mk1 bumper, and have the mk1 look(though ill need to find some fogs).

In the same way i can do 3 things with its transmission. I can keep it auto, though this is a terrible idea really lets be honest, convert it to manual with my 5 speed, or go for a mk7 celica box with a uk starlets bellhousing and have the coveted though not stock 6 speed.

What do we recon then!

Edited by Chops
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Colour code the black parts to the original green and manual conversion. Be a 3k car that!

Dont say that lol, im already having a dilemma over whether or not to keep it or sell for the dollah and keep my shell. :S the shopping list of things id like for it gets very expensive, very fast lol. axe ex8s, bc racing coilies, some lovely looking wilwoods setup i for sale on here recently lol, the temptation to modify its immaculate oem goodness is strong, must resist!

To mk1 or not to mk1 though, that is the question!

Edited by Chops
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If it's not already got alot of mods on it. It wont be worth 3k. Maybe 2-2.5k max in good nick with right bumper bonnet.



Manual conversion is only financially viable if you are keeping it for yourself as it doesn't really increase the value of the car greatly only the salability


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You make autos sound awfull! they aren't that bad haha it sounds like your box is fuked if it's taking 15 seconds to find a gear lol

It was fucked the day it was made an auto box my friend, ive nothing nice to say about it at all! hilariously bad, perhaps :p.

cool project :) fit mk2/3 bumper and sell me that mk1 bumper :) :)

Haha, ill tell you what, if i do put the mk3 on ill give you first dibs on the mk1 colin!

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If it's not already got alot of mods on it. It wont be worth 3k. Maybe 2-2.5k max in good nick with right bumper bonnet.

Manual conversion is only financially viable if you are keeping it for yourself as it doesn't really increase the value of the car greatly only the salability

it has the optional livesound speakers, original toolkit, original boot floor thing, spare wheel, suspension, most of the exhaust, and ill be fitting my doorspeakers, 3 point optional rear brace, and a levin twinpot kit i bought ages ago. the mechanical diff is definately going in too, one way or another. ill convert it to manual just for the pleasure of destroying that bloody auto, rest in pieces, you wont disappoint any more drivers, anymore.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My idea😆 is : Mk1 look full the way + manual conversion with the mechanical lsd. Wilwood brake set up , coilovers and decat.

Then I'll get it back off you 😃

Can't wait for this blog to progress.

All the best Chops

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  • 1 month later...

I could chop it out, I do that sort of thing for a living on bigger stuff and know plenty of coded welders, but I'm not sure what is the best route to take, pull it, insert it, or replace the whole leg with another one. I'm looking to do it up to sell, so its a matter of repairing it in a way a buyer would be fine with. personally, id want the entire leg replaced, but that's a pain in the ass to do. gutted, on some cars the whole front end is bolted on and can just be removed and replaced.


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damn, was it a recent buy or something you've owned for a while?

owned it since May, only just taken the bumper off which was only held in with two bolts 😒 Then to find the damage behind it /: best thing is a front mount was removed from the car before sale, so was known about -.-

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  • 3 weeks later...

So i had a really good shop sort the starlets damage out, and they've done a shit hot job on it!


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Couldn't ask for a better job on it really, glad it was more of an expensive bump in the road rather than a big twisted everything fuckover i suppose!


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Yeah it wasnt that badly bent, and was right at the front of the box section. The job they did putting it straight was spot on, you could put a straight edge to it anywhere and its dead flat and even, no creases or buckles.


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